Use your own API key
PromptVault works out of the box: every account gets 3 free AI improvements, and Pro plans include a generous monthly quota. If you want unlimited usage, full control over your data, or to skip plans entirely, plug in your own provider key — it takes about 60 seconds.
Why bring your own key?
- Unlimited improvements — no monthly cap, you only pay (or don't) the provider directly.
- Full data control — requests go straight from your browser to the provider you choose.
- Pick your model — fast and free with Groq or Gemini, top-tier quality with GPT-4o or Claude.
Which provider should I pick?
If you just want it to work for free, pick Groq. If you already use Google AI Studio, Gemini is just as good. The two paid options are for users who want premium quality.
Groq
The fastest provider on the planet (literally — custom inference chips). Very generous free tier, perfect for prompt rewriting.
Free tier · no credit card
Gemini
Google's API. Free tier is wide enough for daily use (1,500 requests/day on Flash). Quality is excellent.
Free tier · just a Google account
OpenAI
Industry standard. GPT-4o-mini is cheap and great for prompt rewriting (a few cents per hundred calls).
Pay-as-you-go · $5 minimum credit
Anthropic
Best-in-class for nuanced rewrites and long context. Haiku is fast and inexpensive; Sonnet for premium quality.
Pay-as-you-go · $5 minimum credit
TL;DR — Start with Groq. It's free, fast, and the rewrite quality is more than good enough. Switch later if you want a different model.
How to create your key
Groq Free
- Go to console.groq.com and sign in (Google or GitHub).
- Open the left sidebar → API Keys.
- Click Create API Key, give it a name (e.g. "PromptVault"), and copy the key — it starts with
gsk_…. - Paste it into PromptVault → Settings → AI → API Key, and pick a Groq model (Llama 3.3 70B is a good default).
Gemini (Google AI Studio) Free
- Go to aistudio.google.com/apikey and sign in with your Google account.
- Click Create API key → Create API key in new project.
- Copy the key (it starts with
AIza…). - Paste it into PromptVault → Settings → AI → API Key, and pick a Gemini model (Flash is the cheapest/fastest).
OpenAI Paid · $5 min
- Go to platform.openai.com/api-keys and sign in.
- Add at least $5 of credit from Billing (required before you can use the API).
- Click Create new secret key, copy it (starts with
sk-…) — you won't be able to see it again. - Paste it into PromptVault → Settings → AI → API Key, and pick an OpenAI model (GPT-4o-mini is the cheapest option).
Anthropic (Claude) Paid · $5 min
- Go to console.anthropic.com and sign up.
- Add at least $5 of credit from Plans & Billing.
- Open API Keys → Create Key and copy the value (starts with
sk-ant-…). - Paste it into PromptVault → Settings → AI → API Key, and pick a Claude model (Haiku is cheapest, Sonnet is best quality).
Where to paste it in the extension
- Open the PromptVault side panel on any AI chat site.
- Click the Settings gear at the top right.
- Open the AI section.
- Pick your provider, paste the key, choose a model, and hit Save.
From there, every prompt you select inside the panel can be improved with one click — no monthly cap, you're using your own quota.
Privacy note — your API key is stored locally with the Chrome storage.local API. It's never sent to PromptVault servers; requests go directly from your browser to the provider you chose.
Need help?
Stuck on a step or unsure which provider fits you? Email andreaguarnieri71@gmail.com — happy to help.